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Post by uofaGRAD on Sept 8, 2023 0:34:26 GMT -5
What's with so many teams playing to the level of their opponent this year? Arizona goes five with GRAND CANYON, but also shows up looking half decent against Wisco. Maybe the gap between teams is just shrinking each year? did we look decent? 2/3 pins hit terribly, our middles weren’t very good, and our libero was so bad she got DS’d. it was really just sofia and the fighting maldonado’s fwiw, I did think our setter had as good of a game she could’ve had location wise, considering the passing, although I think we got away from Sofia for stretches too long. |
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Post by hipsterfilth on Sept 8, 2023 1:43:03 GMT -5
What's with so many teams playing to the level of their opponent this year? Arizona goes five with GRAND CANYON, but also shows up looking half decent against Wisco. Maybe the gap between teams is just shrinking each year? did we look decent? 2/3 pins hit terribly, our middles weren’t very good, and our libero was so bad she got DS’d. it was really just sofia and the fighting maldonado’s fwiw, I did think our setter had as good of a game she could’ve had location wise, considering the passing, although I think we got away from Sofia for stretches too long. I just didn't think the sets would be as close as they were. Didn't watch the match. |
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Post by bucky415 on Sept 8, 2023 4:46:45 GMT -5
Good for the Badgers to get the sweep. One reason why I am not too concerned with Arizona hitting .266 is that they had two hitting errors not directly caused by Badger blocks on 79 swings. Since the Badger block is good enough to cause "unforced" hitting errors by players trying to avoid it, that is some really clean hitting by Arizona.
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Post by kimdc on Sept 8, 2023 19:27:37 GMT -5
What's with so many teams playing to the level of their opponent this year? Arizona goes five with GRAND CANYON, but also shows up looking half decent against Wisco. Maybe the gap between teams is just shrinking each year? did we look decent? 2/3 pins hit terribly, our middles weren’t very good, and our libero was so bad she got DS’d. it was really just sofia and the fighting maldonado’s fwiw, I did think our setter had as good of a game she could’ve had location wise, considering the passing, although I think we got away from Sofia for stretches too long. That's kind of the point, though. The Wildcats are what they are. There will be passing difficulties all year long. Have to learn to live that. No sport is ever played perfectly. Can they learn to compete with what they have? Rita says Sofia wants to be that player who carries them. She showed that she can against really good competition. The team hit over 300 in 2 of 3 sets despite the existing passing problems. They have shown they are capable of doing that and making the most of an imperfect situation. Can they raise their level to do that against teams they have a better shot at beating? I think play like that beats UC Davis, UNC, and Iowa State. Rita is trying to get the pins to stop forcing things so much. I think Jaelyn, especially, forces things a bit and she did less of it. I also felt like Jae cleaned up her service errors, which are the worst kind of unforced errors, IMO. Far less serving long, which has been her tendency throughout college. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. This was huge improvement as far as playing to the best of their ability and playing smart under current circumstances. |
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Post by uofaGRAD on Sept 8, 2023 19:32:12 GMT -5
did we look decent? 2/3 pins hit terribly, our middles weren’t very good, and our libero was so bad she got DS’d. it was really just sofia and the fighting maldonado’s fwiw, I did think our setter had as good of a game she could’ve had location wise, considering the passing, although I think we got away from Sofia for stretches too long. That's kind of the point, though. The Wildcats are what they are. There will be passing difficulties all year long. Have to learn to live that. No sport is ever played perfectly. Can they learn to compete with what they have? Rita says Sofia wants to be that player who carries them. She showed that she can against really good competition. The team hit over 300 in 2 of 3 sets despite the existing passing problems. They have shown they are capable of doing that and making the most of an imperfect situation. Can they raise their level to do that against teams they have a better shot at beating? I think play like that beats UC Davis, UNC, and Iowa State. Rita is trying to get the pins to stop forcing things so much. I think Jaelyn, especially, forces things a bit and she did less of it. I also felt like Jae cleaned up her service errors, which are the worst kind of unforced errors, IMO. Far less serving long, which has been her tendency throughout college. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. This was huge improvement as far as playing to the best of their ability and playing smart under current circumstances. we do this every couple years though, no? play a top tanked team tough and then go back to playing down to teams we shouldnt be playing down to? i mean we lost to uc davis, who just lost to one of the literal worst D1 volleyball programs in the nation. i'm excited, but incredibly nervous, to see how we look against miami |
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Post by volleyspot10 on Sept 8, 2023 21:26:39 GMT -5
What's with so many teams playing to the level of their opponent this year? Arizona goes five with GRAND CANYON, but also shows up looking half decent against Wisco. Maybe the gap between teams is just shrinking each year? did we look decent? 2/3 pins hit terribly, our middles weren’t very good, and our libero was so bad she got DS’d. it was really just sofia and the fighting maldonado’s fwiw, I did think our setter had as good of a game she could’ve had location wise, considering the passing, although I think we got away from Sofia for stretches too long. “Sofia and the fighting Maldonado’s” might be my favorite statement ever made about this Arizona team 😂 |
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Post by azcatsfan on Sept 8, 2023 21:39:29 GMT -5
That's kind of the point, though. The Wildcats are what they are. There will be passing difficulties all year long. Have to learn to live that. No sport is ever played perfectly. Can they learn to compete with what they have? Rita says Sofia wants to be that player who carries them. She showed that she can against really good competition. The team hit over 300 in 2 of 3 sets despite the existing passing problems. They have shown they are capable of doing that and making the most of an imperfect situation. Can they raise their level to do that against teams they have a better shot at beating? I think play like that beats UC Davis, UNC, and Iowa State. Rita is trying to get the pins to stop forcing things so much. I think Jaelyn, especially, forces things a bit and she did less of it. I also felt like Jae cleaned up her service errors, which are the worst kind of unforced errors, IMO. Far less serving long, which has been her tendency throughout college. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. This was huge improvement as far as playing to the best of their ability and playing smart under current circumstances. we do this every couple years though, no? play a top tanked team tough and then go back to playing down to teams we shouldnt be playing down to? i mean we lost to uc davis, who just lost to one of the literal worst D1 volleyball programs in the nation. i'm excited, but incredibly nervous, to see how we look against miami I agree. The question is, can the pins at Arizona be consistent? To this point and with three seasons to pull from, that hasn’t been the case. We get flashes, but the game to game performance varies drastically. Hopefully they can keep the momentum, but I have my reservations. |
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Post by kimdc on Sept 9, 2023 3:26:42 GMT -5
we do this every couple years though, no? play a top tanked team tough and then go back to playing down to teams we shouldnt be playing down to? i mean we lost to uc davis, who just lost to one of the literal worst D1 volleyball programs in the nation. i'm excited, but incredibly nervous, to see how we look against miami My point is fans shouldn't belittle their level of play against Wisconsin because it wasn't perfect. The passing and floor defense issues were still there yet they rose to the occasion to be the best they can be against the top ranked team. What difference does it make if Giorgia was subbed out? I honestly couldn't care less. And, yes, I am a fan of the program even if I have to retain objectivity to cover them, so it did make me happy to see them do their best. I am a native Arizonan and was raised watching Wildcat sports. I attended and worked at UA. I am honest about the various struggles, but the successes do make me happy. Keeping this level of play is something they must do. There are questions whether they can, but those questions do not diminish the fact that they have proven (to themselves, especially) that they are better than their current record if they perform like they can and should. No finger-pointing at teammates. Just go out there and play like Wisconsin is on the other side all year long. There are too many positives to dismiss how they played Thursday because of the flaws that we know exist. They held their own blocking (UW won that stat just 7-5), which hasn't been great this year. As of last week, Nicole at 0.85 b/s was the leader. AJ, who has far more experience, was at just 0.46. Jae was tied with her. They cleaned up the hitting errors after the first set. Serving errors weren't quite so bad. Ana made some things happen with a few bad passes, which is something she will likely have to do more than she should in Pac-12 play. All those things will help against opponents who aren't as good as Wisconsin if the players and the staff can keep the entire team motivated to do it. |
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Post by uofaGRAD on Sept 9, 2023 8:13:03 GMT -5
My point is fans shouldn't belittle their level of play against Wisconsin because it wasn't perfect. The passing and floor defense issues were still there yet they rose to the occasion to be the best they can be against the top ranked team. What difference does it make if Giorgia was subbed out? I honestly couldn't care less. And, yes, I am a fan of the program even if I have to retain objectivity to cover them, so it did make me happy to see them do their best. I am a native Arizonan and was raised watching Wildcat sports. I attended and worked at UA. I am honest about the various struggles, but the successes do make me happy. Keeping this level of play is something they must do. There are questions whether they can, but those questions do not diminish the fact that they have proven (to themselves, especially) that they are better than their current record if they perform like they can and should. No finger-pointing at teammates. Just go out there and play like Wisconsin is on the other side all year long. There are too many positives to dismiss how they played Thursday because of the flaws that we know exist. They held their own blocking (UW won that stat just 7-5), which hasn't been great this year. As of last week, Nicole at 0.85 b/s was the leader. AJ, who has far more experience, was at just 0.46. Jae was tied with her. They cleaned up the hitting errors after the first set. Serving errors weren't quite so bad. Ana made some things happen with a few bad passes, which is something she will likely have to do more than she should in Pac-12 play. All those things will help against opponents who aren't as good as Wisconsin if the players and the staff can keep the entire team motivated to do it. got it, I see what you’re saying. I think I’m trying to downplay it as much as I can because of our history of playing up to elite teams and down to poor ones. I think that match against wisco might have been the best Ana’s location has been all season and Sofia was on fire. so in saying that too, I guess I was just disappointed in the fact that we turned away from sofia for long periods of time (something that WE did on our side of the net) and that Jaelyn and Jordan weren’t more effective on the sets they were getting (now that has much more to do with wisconsin). we also didn’t get tooled as much and we kept TTA’s offense in check. I think we could’ve been better when they were OOS, as we let Franklin score a LOT in those situations. Miami will be a big test. they have a veteran setter, but somewhat unexperienced (but talented) pins. kind of a flip from us. |
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